Hoping that this Gibs hasn't spotted him getting up, Korthul tries to silently hop/sidle over to Gibs and push him off the side of the balcony by throwing his full weight onto the madman.

Secretly, he hopes nobody sees him hopping and/or sidling in chains, due to the embarrassment factor.

Korthul tries to move silently to G14, using acrobatics to try to mitigate the penalties due to his chained legs and hopefully speed himself up a bit. He'll draw his trusty dagger as he moves if that's allowable in this strange case, and if he hasn't been stripped of his possessions (which I don't think was ever mentioned to me). If he gets within 5 feet of Gibs, and still has a Standard Action left, he'll try to Bull Rush him off the side of the balcony.

Harold spits in Gibs general direction as he moves with Bjorn to cover the stairs and taunt Gibs to come rushing down, "Gibs, yew walkin' pile ov pig manure, we've been lookin' fer yaaahr gutless self. Thee could ov done us all a 'uge favor an' cut yaaahr own froat befawer killin' those guards, now we 'ave ter make sure we keep enuff life in yew ter 'ang fer yaaahr transgressions awer da Sheriff'll be a might bi' ticked off." The half-orc keeps his sword held down by his side casually.

Harold will move to F:10, the base of the stairs and ready for if Gibs charges down toward Bjorn.

"As Master Grimsley said, we need to take Gibs alive if possible," Korvus calls to his companions. The half-orc wizard keeps his wand trained on Gibs and mutters the activation word again, sending a missile of magical energy darting toward the madman.

The face at the top of the stairs belongs to that of a very human-looking half-orc that has suffered some serious facial damage in the past. He appears to be quite short for a half-orc, only just six feet tall if even that. He turns his head to the group and curtly bellows, "Leave him alive. I have questions that need answering."

Bjorn's eyes go wide as Korthul shouts from the top of the stairs. Weren't these ruins supposed to be abandoned? First a crazy woman with poor understanding of cause and effect and now an ugly-as-sin whelp of an orc. At least this one wasn't foolish enough to threaten him.

"Don't worry. I just want to rough him up", the big Ulfen says as he tightens his hold.

Asha put away her gun when Bjorn grappled the miscreant. He might be a thug but he just proved himself useful so risking shooting him was stupidity. "I agree with the big guy here, rough him up a bit. Slap some sanity into that skull as he's clearly lacking any." She still kept her hand on her pistol in case Gibbs managed to get away.

Harold reverses his grip on his sword as Bjorn easily hoists up Gibs in a mighty bear hug. He looks up at another half-orc on the platform that sent Gibs tumbling down like a sack of potatoes and tips his hat to him. Harold proceeds to reel back his hilt clutching fist for a punch to knock Gibs into a deep sleep, "I don't know abaaaht da rest ov yew but I could do wivaaaht 'is mowf fer da rest ov da trip back ter town."

"Well done, Master Stonehand!" Korvus cheers for Bjorn, keeping his wand trained on Gibs. "Keep him confined and let me see if my theory is true," the half-orc wizard adds, murmuring the words of the spell that will allow him to see magical auras and studying Gibs intently.

Asha puts her gun away while Korvus approaches I assume since he would be ~90 feet away if not and casts a spell. Angelia follows beside him.

Kendra continues her movement, stopping slightly behind Bjorn. She keeps her daggers out, but down at her side.

Korthul bellows down to the group below, announcing his presence. I didn't make it clear last round, but you didn't draw your dagger - you can do it now if you want to, as well as get your feet out of the chains.

Bjorn roars and pins Gibs arms to his side while Harold connects with a massive roundhouse to the back of Gibs' head, drawing a painful gasp from the man, but leaving him conscious.

Alexei places his morningstar back at his hip and casts a spell.

Gibs gibbers and screams incoherently, veins bulging on his face as he tries to free himself. Failing to break Bjorn's grip, Gibs slumps forward with a deep exhale. Head still bowed, he begins laughing the high-pitched cackle of a madman. Still giggling, he says, "Let The Reaping begin!"

Korthul:

Out of the corner of your eye, you see a ghostly scythe rise up out of the balcony, held aloft by two bony arms that end at the elbows. The arms swing the scythe around a few times, then finally hold it up in a position as if ready to strike. The scythe silently floats toward you... It ends its move twenty feet away from you.

Korthul becomes distracted from his bellowing to the group below and turns around to see the terrifying apparition approaching. He barks out, "I don't know who you people down there are, but I'd get my weapons ready if I were you. Something terrible approaches," while drawing his axe and dagger, waiting for the thing to come nearer so that he can hopefully knock the ghastly scythe away.

Korthul takes a 5 foot step towards the stairs and draws his two weapons as a move action. He readies a standard action to strike the bony arms holding the scythe if they come within his reach.

Asha pulls out her pistol and her buckler before moving to a position where she shares a view with the man that had stumbled down the stairs. She keeps her gun ready for whatever it is that she faces.

Move action to move so she has line of sight to the stairs while drawing her pistol and buckler. Readying an action to shoot whatever is up there if it gets within 20 ft (which would mean +7 vs Touch AC)

With Gibs seeming to deflate somewhat in Bjorn's arms, Harold flips his sword around to secure it back on his belt when the new half-orc up top starts yelling about something terrible this way comes. Harold stops stowing his sword as he starts to stalk up the stairs to see what all the hub-bub is about.

As the enormous half-orc, Harold, engages the floating scythe, Korthul looks at him in surprise, letting out a quiet exclamation, "Korgath? What are you...?"

His sentence is cut short by a grunt of pain as the scythe bites into the flesh that had so recently been cut open by Gibs' war razor. Fresh blood pools, and Korthul realizes he must focus on the task at hand.

With a new warrior in the fray, Korthul hopes to take tactical advantage, as he quickly dodges and weaves his way around the scythe, hoping to attack it from its "flank," wherever that is on a floating weapon being carried by disembodies arms.

Once in position, he swings with his axe.

Korthul uses Acrobatics to avoid attacks of opportunity and get into flanking position with the scythe. He then attacks.

Harold growls as the whirling scythe spins back and forth out of the path of his own blade. His fellow half-orc, who goes from surprised to wounded to focused in a matter of seconds, circles on the opposite side of the animated scythe. Harold sways his sword in a fluid dance as he calls out to Korthul, "Name's Harold, chum. Let's see if we can't cut this puppet's strings."

Harold goes on the offensive as he strikes out against the haft of the scythe with two blows that speed out like lightning.

"Definitely a necromantic effect - likely tied to possession, if I were to hazard a guess," Korvus says, approaching Kendra and the bound Gibs. "Angelia? Please keep an eye on Master Gibs in case he is playing false," the half-orc wizard requests of the spirit-animated armor as he raises his wand to fire a missile of mystical energy toward the ghostly scythe.

Harold grunts as the scythe whips about too fast for any of his blows to prove effective. As the others start to rush up the stairs to the melee, Harold calls out, "We got aaahrselves a fies'y 'arvestin' an' alll 'ere. Wee best put i' down befawer we all end up like stalks ov grain."

Angelia moves quickly until she is standing over Gibs while Korvus looses a magic missile at the scythe.

Kendra watches Gibs, nervously glancing up at the scythe as the rest of the group converges on their new target.

Korthul swings both his axe and dagger at the scythe; his axe passes through the scythe, but his dagger connects with one of the skeletal arms. 9 damage

Bjorn moves up the stairs and retrieves his haunt siphon.

Harold swings his sword in concert with Korthul, weaving his blows in to take advantage of his ally's axe and dagger strikes. His first blow passes directly through the scythe, but his second leaves a wide mark as proof of it's impact. 8 damage

Alexei moves to the side and attacks with a ferocious blow, but he watches in astonishment as his weapon passes through the scythe.

Asha watches in anticipation, waiting to see if another enemy appears.

The scythe flips over and slashes at Korthul in a wide arc, leaving a ragged scratch across his armor, but failing to penetrate the thick leather.

Sorry, didn't see any updates in my profile tabs for this thread (or any others, for that matter).

Alexei swings his morningstar again, but is frustrated to see the attack pass directly through the floating scythe once again!

Bjorn flips the lid open on the vial and aims it at the scythe. A cloud of green gas flies out and toward the scythe, completely enveloping it. Small flashes illuminate the cloud as it spins around, allowing everyone to clearly see the scythe twisting and writhing as if being pulled to pieces. Several seconds pass before a high-pitched keening starts, only to be abruptly silenced as the gas changes color from a light green into a dark gray.

As quickly as it emerged from the vial, it flows back into the haunt siphon and the lid snaps shut of its own accord.

The scythe is nowhere to be found.

Bjorn:

The siphon is about three times as heavy now, and is cold to the touch.

Korvus, Alexei:

The magic auras you had detected earlier have disappeared.

Let me know how you want to proceed. You have a Gibs unconscious and restrained, and a new "friend" who was Gibs' prisoner until you allowed him to escape.

With the disappearance of the scythe and the magical aura, Alexei relaxes slightly. He turns to Bjorn as he begins to store his weapon. Coughing softly to find his voice, the bearded Chelaxian begins, "Indeed. I suspect taking him directly to the Sheriff would be the best plan." Giving the area a quick but careful look, he then turns and moves down the stairs to keep an eye on Gibs.

Korthul does not relax when the scythe disappears, and while he does not sheathe his weapons, he does lower them to take a less threatening posture, he looks around at the group, appearing to size them up.

Bjorn Stonehand wrote:

"I appreciate you feeding Gibs to me but who the hell are you and how did you end up here? Did you come here with the madwoman?" he asks indicating Asha.

"I was about to ask you the same. I came to in that room over there," he says, indicating the room behind him, "where your madman has been performing some dark deeds." Korthul indicates a few of the scars on his arms that appear more recent than others. "These are fresh. And someone is slain by his hand." A worried look crosses his face for a moment, but Korthul does not elaborate further.

He once again turns to look at the group as a whole, spending a bit more time eying the walking statue. He returns his gaze to Bjorn's. "And what of you? This does not seem an appropriate place for an Oathday stroll. Too many flying armaments."

Dang it, forgot to mention... There is a reinforced wood door leading from the balcony into the prison itself. Additionally, people on the balcony see the body of a dwarf lying nearby... its head lies five feet away.